The Big East Conference is poised for a big day a couple of days before the big day that involves Santa arrives.
Butler (+5.5) at Providence O/U 141.5
Both teams are coming off home wins in their Big East openers. Butler (10-2, 1-0) defeated a spunky Georgetown team by team while Kim English’s crew pulled off the upset against Marquette.
Key matchup will be how the Friars (10-2, 1-0) deal with Pierre Brooks and Jahmyl Thomas. Brooks gives the Bulldogs an explosive scorer in the backcourt while Thomas can score from the midrange to the front of the rim.
The Friars did a great job making an above average Marquette offense look ordinary. Their ability to limit Tyler Kolek’s ability to make his teammates better was one of the reasons the Friars won.
This smell like a one or two possession game.
Pick: Butler +5.5
Seton Hall (+3.5) at Xavier O/U 146.5
Seton Hall’s (8-4, 1-0) win over UConn has an asterisk beside it because of Donovan Clingan’s injury but make no mistake, the Pirates were the better team at times during the game. What I was most impressed by was how physical they played the Huskies on the perimeter. Jaden Bediako had ten points and nine rebounds. Prior to Clingan’s injury, Bediako was holding his own inside.
Xavier (6-6, 0-1) dropped their Big East opener on the road at St. Johns. The Musketeers struggled with Joel Soriano which opened everything up for the Red Storm.
On paper, Seton Hall should win but there’s a reason why Xavier is favored by slightly more than one possession.
Sean Miller’s crew is at home and that will make this a close game.
Pick: Xavier -3.5
Villanova (-12.5) at DePaul O/U 134.5
Villanova (8-4, 1-0) went to Creighton and erased a double-digit second half deficit to pull off an overtime win. Eric Dixon used his perimeter skills to score 32 points. Dixon’s success came when he was able to pull Bluejays’ big man, Ryan Kalkbrenner to the perimeter.
DePaul (2-8, 0-0) has been DePaul all season but they can hang onto hope that Villanova will play flat like they did against Penn, St. Joseph’s, and Drexel.
Pick: Villanova -12.5
St. Johns (+11.5) at UConn O/U 149.5
Donovan Clingan is questionable for this one. That makes a big difference because with a less than 100% Clingan, the Red Storm’s big man, Joel Soriano could post big numbers. If that’s the case, St. Johns can find a way to keep it close for a while.
The Huskies (10-2. 0-1) are undefeated at home. In the six wins, they’ve averaged over 80 points a game.
The Red Storm (8-3, 1-0) have more and more stretches where they look like they are grasping what Rick Pitino would like for them to do.
Pick: St Johns +11.5
